Beyond The Spectrum is a UK wide autism arts and creative writing programme led by and for Autistic writers. It aims to enable Autistic individuals to express their voice and life experiences through arts engagement – promoting individual wellbeing, public awareness, and representation of autism in the arts.
By connecting autism and creative arts, Beyond The Spectrum offers a unique programme, bringing Autistic people together to enhance communication and understanding.
Beyond the Spectrum runs free creative writing workshops for autistic adults and young people. Find out more about BTS below.
Level up your writing skills with our creative writing masterclasses. Find advanced workshops and courses lead by professional, published writers, by location and genre.
Find out how a Beyond The Spectrum online workshop works with this step-by-step guide, starting with when you first sign up to the creative writing programme to when you join online.
From those struggling with situational mutism to becoming increasingly confident and ven speaking publicly, read the humbling stories uncovered by BTS and the lives that it changes.
April is Autism Awareness/Acceptance month and over the month we’ve reflected on what makes joining Beyond the Spectrum different to joining other creative writing groups.
BTS Lead Writer Emma Robdale tells us about her new anthology, currently open for submissions. Its name takes inspiration from the iconic Girl Interrupted (1990), a film confronting difficult questions around the treatment and experience of Neurodivergent+ Women. Set in the 1960s, it followed the lives of women held in an asylum, many of which had been pathologized simply for failing feminine expectation; If they could not be ‘amended’, it was widely accepted that society would be better off without them …
Camille Aubry will be returning to the Beyond the Spectrum online festival in 2026, as our live illustrator at some of the sessions. We interview her, to find out more about her life and work.
